Dr. Ryan Burge is one of the foremost experts on religion and politics in the United States - creating hundreds of data visualizations a year that try to help people understand the American political and religious landscape.

Born and raised in a small town in Southern Illinois, Ryan was an active member in a Southern Baptist Church through his childhood and teenage years. He earned his Bachelor’s degree at Greenville College (now University) in History/Philosophy. He then pursued a graduate degree in Political Science from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. His dissertation was on religion and political behavior in the United States.

After graduating, Ryan served as a post-doctoral fellow at SIU’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, before landing a teaching position in the Department of Political Science at Eastern Illinois University. In 2019, was placed on the tenure track and was asked to serve as the graduate coordinator. In 2023, he was awarded tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor.

In the last several years, Ryan has become the go-to source for data on religion for members of the media, denominational leaders and other scholars. He has written for a number of websites including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and POLITICO. Most of his writing now can be found on his Substack - Graphs about Religion.